Forests:  a green pathway for human development

World leaders at Rio+20 agreed that forests have a significant role to play in addressing many sustainable development challenges.  To help fulfill this role, the Committee on Forestry (COFO) 2012 will focus on translating the results of Rio+20 into action and strengthening forestry’s many cross-sectoral linkages under the following key topics:

• Integrating forests with environmental and land use policies at all levels
• Forests, trees  and people together in a living landscape: A key to rural development
• Broadening the financial basis for sustainable forest management: wood and non-wood products, services, innovations, markets, investments and international instruments
• Sound information and knowledge base for better policies and good governance 

The 2012 State of the World’s Forests report will also be released at COFO. It will make the case that better and more sustainable use of forestry resources can make a significant contribution to meeting many of the core global challenges including poverty and hunger, climate change, and more sustainable sources of bio-products and bio-energy for human use.

World Forest Week 3

For the third time, COFO will be held in conjunction with World Forest Week - a series of meetings and events sponsored by FAO and its partner organizations and institutions. The events of the Week are organized around the key topics of COFO shedding more light on key issues and allowing for a more detailed discussions. The World Forest Week is an opportunity for sharing state-of-the-art knowledge and major accomplishments and achievements.